Elder Coy at Five Years Old!

Elder Coy at Five Years Old!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

This week has been crazy and a half. With everything that has been going on, it seems so little and so much has happened at the same time, kind of a life time in a small moment. Here we go.

Transfers were bitter-sweet. Elder David left for Miri (my old area!) and Elder Call came to replace him. That means though, I only get three sweet more weeks with Elder Lundquist before he will balik kampung. I will miss him dearly, he is definitely one of the thE best companions I've had.

We did get stuck at a drink kedai for two hours on Tuesday due to a thunderstorm, that was fun. We saw a lot of miracles contacting this last week, all with Chinese people though. All the Dayaks were still away for Gawai. We met one lady named Alfreda who was the most American Chinese lady I've ever met. She told us she would be more then happy to meet again, but she was currently busy preparing dinner as a 'full time mother'. She was amazing.
Another was last night. Sister Willis had met a man on the plane from Zone Conference, who she handed off to Elder Stowell because he lived in Batu Kawa. He ended up in our area, so we went to visit him. His name was Freddy, and he lives with his sister Sylvia and two nieces and his mother. They were all extremely friendly and receptive. Speaking English in a lesson was weird, but we learned that Freddy loved charity work, to the point that that was what he did with his life. They asked us to return the next Sunday, so we plan to bring the Chinese Elders with us.

We had exchanges with the Assistants on Friday, which was a crazy day. It started with our Kuching Leadership Counsel at the church, with all the District Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders, where we prepared for Zone Meeting, then Elder Allen and I went to do proselyting work whilst Elders Lundquist and Parritt stayed at the church to get ready for Jihap's baptism that night. We went and had great less active lessons, ate at a janky Indian Restaurant, and barely got back in time. They had asked Elder Lundquist to baptize Jihap and Carolina, Elder McCown did Magi, and President Sulai did Rachel.  I got to give a talk on Baptism :-)

The Baptism was incredibly sweet, Elder Lundquist said when Jihap came out of the water he was trying to find words to explain what he felt, and he could only say 'light' and 'my heart is open like a book'.

Then, we prepared for our fantastic Zone Meeting tomorrow. It's going to take a lot of work, but it will be well worth it. I'm very excited for a lot of reasons, you'll find out more next week.

Congratulations Nate! The pictures of the wedding look amazing.Love you all!




























-Elder Christensen

Monday, May 25, 2015

"Hello you beautiful!"

"Hello you beautiful!"- George Bailey

This last week has been hard and amazing.

Spiritual Thought: Missions are full of disappointments, the harder you work, the more disappointments you find, but also the more success. The key is to avoid turning disappointments into distractions, discouragements, or complacency.

This last week was very fun. We took it easy this last Monday for P-day, and good thing too, because that night we had a Baptismal Interview out in Matang. They had a bicycle break down, so we got a taxi, went and picked up Elder Bester (Matang has a threesome right now), and went to do the interview out in am impoverished little hut next to a Muslim kampung. By the time that was over it was night, so we ended the day.

Tuesday morning we implemented something that President Mains wanted us to do for Kuching and had the Districts meet in separate chapels, where previously they all met in the largest central one previously. It was a great idea, helps to keep everyone in their area more.
We also met again with Jihap that day, Brothers Paul and Desmond drove us out there. Paul is a returned missionary from this mission, Desmond is a prospective Elder who is 16 right now, and they both did great. We taught the last of the commandments, reviewing Enduring to the end, and that family is still wonderful.
That night we had a potential fall through on us, but as we were walking away from the house we heard a little Indian boy yell hello to us. We walked over and found an entire Indian Hindu family that we should be meeting with again today, and if we get a return appointment, Bro. Govin, a former Hindu himself, said he could follow.

Wednesday, Thusday, and Friday, were President and Sister Mains's last Zone Conference and M.L.C. It's heartbreaking to think they go home in July, at the same time as Elder Lundquist. They have done wonders for everyone they have served. It was very much focused on the 1st chapter of P.M.G., and we were able to watch a recording of Elder Ballard's talk he gave in Singapore almost a month ago. It was great, he challenged every member in Singapore to find someone for the missionaries within 90 days. I've taken that challenge myself, as I have 90 days left or so (but who's counting?)

Saturday we had a District Priesthood service project in the morning, Bro. Jihap again in the afternoon, and other things to do for the zone. Very busy. We were at the church by 8:30, digging and landscaping for the new flowerbeds we are putting in there. We were tired afterwards, but kept going until the end of the day.

Sunday was long and rainy, but some small miracles happened in finally being able to contact some long time less actives.


























































Today we went to a Cultural Village for Sarawak, full of incredible real exhibits and dayak housing that people still use. It also had an incredible show for the different dances the tribes have here. Even on P-day though, we saw miracles. At the restaurant we met a lady that not only lived near our house, but apparently saw missionaries all the time, wanted us to go to her house, and did not work on Sunday! Amazing!

Love you all!

-Elder Christensen